


Three's a Charm

by Wiggle



Series: Stuckony Stocking Fills 2020 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wiggle/pseuds/Wiggle
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple magical break-in. The secret hidden in the basement changed everything.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Stuckony Stocking Fills 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1939567
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42
Collections: Stuckony Summer Stocking 2020





	Three's a Charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie) in the [stuckony_summer_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stuckony_summer_stocking_2020) collection. 



> For HDDNONE's prompt: Witch AU / magic AU
> 
> I Hope you liiiike it <333

The beaded threads woven into Bucky’s hair and around his torque and wrists tinkled. He hesitated, and strained his ears through the dark for any change to the sounds floating out of the party. Nothing. A sluggish breeze tousled the bushes that hid him from view, but no footsteps approached. They hadn’t heard him. He let another second eke past, and shuffled forward when nothing happened. The small metal beads resumed their vibrating. 

If Tony was going to insist on covering Bucky with wards, he was going to have to stop getting them into situations where stealth was necessary.

“Ready?” Tony asked from his place hunkered against the external wall of a ridiculously opulent home.

Nodding, Bucky eased out of the bushes and reached for him. As they came together, his wards buzzed, the metal beads recognizing Tony’s magic as their own and setting his nerves alight. Fizzy bursts raced up his spine and spiralled out his fingertips. 

Ignoring the tremors—Tony could have that effect—he locked his hands into a cradle. One of the strings around his wrist pulled taut as he hoisted Tony into the air, and the charmed metal dug into his skin.

“This is a terrible idea,” he told Tony’s foot as the last of the sparking thrill spun itself out. 

“Only if we get caught.” Tony’s voice was calm but distracted. Hopefully that meant he was focused on the window they needed to bypass and not on escaping because they’d already been caught. 

Sweat gathered at Bucky’s hairline and the small of his back. The night was warm and close, heavy with the promise of a storm and thick with the scent of bougainvillea. Shadows danced in the garden as people inside drifted from room to room, taking their witchlights with them. 

A warning thrum kicked off in a bead by Bucky’s ear, and a new shade of indefinite night bloomed, the private security detail entering their second phase. He twitched and Tony wobbled. “There—”

“I see it,” Tony interrupted. “We’re just a couple of tipsy revellers getting fresh in the bushes.”

Bucky hadn’t asked what they were doing tonight, Tony had been agitated about it for days, but it tragically was not that. 

“Ready?” Tony asked for the second time that night, the dozenth time that day, and the thousandth time since he’d chosen Bucky for his source. 

“Yes,” Bucky answered, as he had the first time, and everytime thereafter. Then he grinned, bracing himself for the rush and Tony pulled.

Bucky sucked in a breath, filling his lungs in counterpoint to Tony’s magic emptying him. This scarcely broke the surface of what Bucky had to give. The wellspring of power inside him was deep and well fed, but Tony was too careful with him, coddling his reserves. Bucky could take plenty more before Tony exhausted him.

The glass above them shattered without sound, shards bursting free to catch and hang, sparkling in the starlight. Tony looked down and winked, then spun the slivers into perfect spheres and left them to hover like luminous rain around Bucky. 

They started rising, Tony’s weight nothing as he pulled free of Bucky’s arms. With another deep breath, Tony tugged and pulled himself, Bucky, and the glass through the window.

Sound returned to the world as Bucky found his feet and Tony returned the glass to its former home. Long shadows stretched across the room, cast in the faint light of a door left ajar. Distant voices crept in with them. They were in a large, sparsely decorated office. An unforgiving chair watched over an imposing desk devoid of knick knacks or photos. Instead the walls it faced were dense with framed awards and newspaper articles.

Tony wove through the gloom, leading Bucky past a well-stocked wet bar and a small box with a glowing green light. Pressing his hand to Tony’s back, he tilted his head and indicated the device.

Tony frowned and flicked his fingers. The light went out. Eyeing it suspiciously, Tony gestured to the hidden side of the unsecured door.

“Nice catch,” he said, bouncing on his toes, voice pitched low. “Good news, bad news. It had a magical backup—don’t worry—” he held his hands up, though Bucky wasn’t worried, “I disabled it, but it wasn’t supposed to be there. If that’s different, I don’t know what else is.”

“So we’ll be more careful.”

Tony pulled the side of his lower lip into his mouth and squinted. “Sure.”

“Sure? Even for you that’s a bit flimsy, what is this place?”

Tony tensed.

Footsteps approached. Bucky leaned into the shadows behind the door. If it opened further, it would hide them from sight for the crucial moment it would take to spell the interloper to sleep. Tony slipped in next to him, positioning himself closer to the door and danger. 

Chest tight, ears straining, Bucky stared at the door. He shouldn’t have pushed. It was an honour to be chosen as Tony’s source, even with the rumors about his past. The other potential sources had whispered, but Bucky’d never heard anyone with the details and by the time choosing arrived, it hadn’t mattered. Tony’s talent was staggering, his potential under debate because it was impossible to chart. Every source had tried to impress him.

Bucky didn’t know how he’d managed it.

The footsteps moved on.

Breathing out an explosive sigh, Tony dropped his hand and turned back to Bucky. He grimaced when their eyes met.

Bucky swallowed and a chill dragged up his spine. Tony did right by him. He wanted Bucky to be more than a source, a pool of emotions and affection that Tony could plumb for power. It wasn’t like it used to be, not like the hidden scars crawling down his left arm told him to expect. Now magi showered their new sources in gifts and praise, learned their personalities, teased out their likes and dislikes, always hunting for the big win. Tony had to know Bucky was won, had to know his magic was sourced in Bucky’s love. 

Motioning Bucky to follow, Tony said. “Life threatening mission first, big hairy reveal on the way.” He leaned around the door and eased it wider to slip through the gap. “Welcome to Casa del Stark.” 

“What?” Bucky hurried to ask, but Tony snapped a bubble of silence around them and hustled down the hall. It was brighter than the office, but it was Tony’s words that had him eyeing every detail. The passageway was steeped in magic. The wooden floorboards and fixtures, the tapestries and sculptures, all of them were made from ancient magic-sensitive materials. A sense of magical purpose zinged through the air. Someone had woven magical intent into a _hallway._

They continued on, Tony waving them through security charms and twice disarming the unexpected little boxes. After another encounter with unseen footsteps, during which Tony hid them behind an illusion of empty air and refused to meet Bucky’s eyes, they slipped into a quiet alcove. Dust hung heavy on the settee and the witchlights ebbed low, in need of renewal. The recess wanted to be forgotten, to slip from memory. It was subtle, but Tony would know if that was a magical suggestion like they’d already passed.

Tony pressed his hand to the drab wallpaper, and the wall laboured aside to reveal a pair of elevator doors. Stepping inside, Bucky waited until he had Tony’s full attention and threw his arms wide in a what-the-hell gesture. Maybe this would be the thing that sent Tony courting other sources. He should. All that unchartable potential needed more than just Bucky to feed it. The money and the charisma to keep a stable of sources spoiled and happy were well within Tony’s reach. Bucky didn’t want things to change, but he had to know. 

The silence dropped, and with it Tony’s shoulders. He slouched like using his magic had been all that was keeping him upright. “If you can wait another two floors, I’ll have more answers for you.” He spread his hands, and half-heartedly wiggled his fingers. “Visual aids.”

“Okay.” Bucky had questions. So many questions. But he could give Tony two more floors. Tony’s eyes lingered on his face. 

The elevator doors opened to another world. Wire and cabling crawled up the walls and dangled in long arcing trails from the ceiling. Everything was cement and metal. Somewhere something industrial whined to life. His breath frosted in the air in front of him.

This explained nothing. He turned to get answers and froze. 

A glass tube emerged from a cloud of billowing white. Ice formed on its sides, crawling across the platform that supported it and creeping outward along the floor. A figure rested inside. The slope of his shoulders was foreign, his blond hair all too familiar.

Far above them, lightning cracked. The storm had arrived.

“Steve.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the lovely Betheflame for a speedy beta!


End file.
